On Wednesday, the Dominica Bureau of Standards (DBOS) in collaboration with the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards & Quality (CROSQ) introduced, Quality Infrastructure – The 11th European Development Fund (EDF) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Programme to Dominica.
Its objective is to contribute to the integration of the CARIFORUM into the world economy with the specific objective to facilitate the effective operation of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).
During a media session, presentations were given on how Dominica will benifit from its participation in a number of activities over the four-year life span of the programme. Sessions like these have been happening in all 16 participating countries, in an effort to bring awareness not just to the programme, but to quality infrastructure in general.
The Beneficiary Countries are Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago.
The implementation of the TBT Component of the 11th EDF EPA Programme started in September 2019. It is funded by the European Union, through the CARIFORUM Directorate, managed by the German National Metrology Institute and jointly implemented by the PTB, CROSQ and the Dominican Institute for Quality (INDOCAL).
Technical Officer of Quality Promotions Ms. Latoya Burnham revealed that the TBT Programme represents an investment of 4.5 million Euros into developing a culture of quality in our region, which is no small feat.
“Funding has gone into certification of private sector companies; into the international accreditation of some of our region’s laboratories; into closing gaps between what buyers expect of exported products from our region, as well as into discussions and identification of gaps between our foreign exchange and export potential industries and sectors, and the quality systems that are needed. And this is just some of what the TBT Component of the EDF programme has been doing since late 2019.”
She said one means of ensuring the EPA provides the intended benefits to CARIFORUM States is through the improvement of trade and competitiveness by reducing TBTs, through a modernized national and regional Quality Infrastructure.
“The TBT Component aims to contribute to the Programme’s overall and specific objectives by increasing the use of internationally recognised Regional Quality Infrastructure (RQI) by the regional and national quality institutions and by the private sector. Benefits include the identification and closing of quality gaps in key sectors and organisations; the promotion of a quality culture in the region; and, the strengthening of the RQI.”
She said Dominica continues to demonstrate that its size is by no means an indication of capability and it certainly has not dampened the drive and determination of Director LaPlace and the staff here at the bureau, as you will hear and see today.
While activity ground to a halt globally, in many cases she said they were pushing through here in this region because they “recognised that we needed to shore up the resilience of our sectors and businesses to respond.”
At the regional level, the Technical Officer stated she saw an increasing demand for standards that contribute to risk resilience, that can help assist the tourism and other productive industries bounce back from the pandemic.
“We’ve also seen a growing demand for the testing, inspection and certification services that are offered in the domain of quality and quality infrastructure,” she added.
“Here in our CARIFORUM region, we cannot ignore the demands of our people or our trading markets, and in order to plan a sustained and effective response to these needs, those of us who contribute to shaping the world of quality must take stock of what we can do for the resilience and sustainability of our region.
